International Women’s Day 2015

A Message from Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF, March 8, 2015

"On International Woman’s Day, I would like to first of all celebrate women. So to all, happy Women’s Day. Second, I would like to describe to you a few findings from our research particularly focused on women’s contribution to the economy.

The first one is that women should contribute more to the economy, and when they do, it can significantly increase GDP. So women are great talents out there in many economies, and they can bring a lot.

The second finding, which is a follow up, is that we have studied about 150 countries. And in 90 percent of them, 9-0, we have found either one or many obstacles of a legal nature.

What we are suggesting is that these legal barriers, these legal obstacles, be removed. What does that mean? Well, it means making sure, for instance, that the tax system does not discriminate against women. It means that paternity/maternity leave be encouraged and funding is made available for that.

If those obstacles are removed, the gender gap, which doesn’t help the economy, which doesn’t help growth, will actually be reduced. It can work and it makes economic sense."

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